Earlier than this present album, mgk lodged a serious hit alongside Jelly Roll with “Lonely Street,” primarily a rewrite of John Denver’s “Take Me Residence, Nation Roads,” whose success maybe explains Baker’s strategy on misplaced americana. So many massive songs as of late are simply shameless rehashes of previous hits that it’s barely price making the purpose, but when your document goes to put on its influences on its sleeve tattoos, you may as effectively draw from a Pinterest board filled with bulletproof melodies. The Pavlovian goodwill elicited by mgk borrowing the sound of “Working Up That Hill,” on “indigo” is so highly effective that he almost will get away with rapping, “Residing fantasy like J.Okay. Rowling/I’m J.R.R. Tolkien these spliffs.” When he talk-sings, “I been up for day-ay-ay-ay-ays/Choppin’ up the yay-ay-ay-ay-ay” on the pre-chorus of the “Semi-Charmed Life” flip, confusingly named “starman,” it’s nearly unattainable to not be at the least semi-char—uh, perversely amused—by his knuckleheaded skill to fall ass-backward into efficiently placing his personal stamp on a basic pop tune about meth.
Typically, Baker tries to do an excessive amount of directly with out providing a way of objective. “dont wait run quick” seems like a misplaced collab between Def Leppard and Movement Metropolis Soundtrack, and the one different factor you might want to find out about it’s it’s the official tune of ESPN’s Faculty GameDay. “miss sunshine” is like Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers’ “Street Trippin’” run by means of a Sugar Ray preset, and makes an attempt to evoke a imaginative and prescient of an idyllic, consequence-free youth that, charitably, might be learn as mgk making an attempt to arrange the document’s darker second half, however principally feels vapid and misplaced. Elsewhere, he has the inverse drawback: “vampire diaries,” which is mercifully one of many few instances Travis Barker pop-punks up on the album, is written from the attitude of a vampire. (There’s no metaphor there—he’s simply imagining what it might be wish to be a vampire.) As a musician, mgk doesn’t essentially do one style notably effectively, however he does so lots of them, every with equal enthusiasm. The gamut of types on misplaced americana means that if mgk weren’t well-known, he’d be the musical director/frontman of a very kickass and notably versatile cowl band.
One of many outstanding issues about misplaced americana is its constant, realizing nods to cocaine use, which could be learn as a nod to Baker’s very publicly no-good late-2024. “I miss my medicine, they’ve been my pals since 21,” he sings on “Outlaw Overture,” earlier than the beat switches and he continues, “The entire pages are clean until my life goes to shit/I do know I try this on objective simply to write down once more.” The document’s two greatest tracks, “goddamn” and “inform me whats up,” proceed this confessional mode. The previous sounds extra like Lil Peep than it doesn’t, and mgk nails the task, dashing up his metronomic circulation to match the urgency of the strains, “I’ve been drowning in one thing, I’m a downer on substances/I’m a functioning junkie turning my life round.” It’s a melding of lyric and supply that means Baker is perhaps turning a nook as a songwriter, capable of embrace the concept substance and kind are complementary ideas.
